Early methods of clamping to an operating table side rail are described within U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,964 entitled “Rail Clamp” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,973 entitled “Universal Clamp”
More recent operating table support clamps for attaching medical surgical support structures are described within U.S. Pat. No. 7,686,267 entitled “Operating Table Support Clamp” and U.S. Pat. No. 7,003,827 entitled “Operating Table Support Clamp”.
A surgical support arrangement is described within U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,621 entitled “Lateral Surgical Positioner Unit”.
To fasten the surgical support arrangements to the operating table side rails, the associated knobs must be rotated in the clockwise direction sufficiently to insure tight connection there between.
When such surgical support arrangements, attached to the side rail clamps, are to be moved along the operating table side rail, the fastening knobs must be rotated in the counter-clockwise direction to loosen the support clamp sufficiently to release the connection with the operating table side rail and later rotated in the clockwise direction to re-connect again with the side rail.
Since the side rails are delineated by rectangular notches thereon for receiving the jaws of the side rail clamps, positioning of the side rail clamps is thereby limited to the locations of the notches, which are difficult to determine when positioned under the surgical drapes.
It is further noted that most operating table side rails are hinged to allow the table to be raised or lowered, which further prevents movement of the side rail clamps along the operating table side rail.
It would be more efficient to be able to loosen the clamp connection without having to spend time in rotating the support damp knob to first loosen the connection with the operating table side rail, especially when several movements of the surgical support arrangements along the operating table side rail are required.
One purpose of the instant invention is to provide an arrangement for rapidly fastening, loosening and removing an operating table side rail clamp from the operating table side rail in the least amount of time and with a minimum amount of effort without requiring access to the side rail notches